Internal Affairs

Internal Affairs

The Department of Public Social Services (DPSS) has had an Internal Affairs (IA) Unit since 1970 when it was established to investigate allegations of employee wrongdoing and/or systems abuse - and manipulation - for personal gain. The IA Unit has adopted an aggressive program to make DPSS a public service agency free from employee fraud, and free of employees who fail to act with integrity and ethical behavior.

DPSS currently has one Director responsible for one unit composed of two Administrators and nine Administrative Investigators.

As a result of heightened awareness of employee fraud and the need for internal employee detection and deterrence, we initiated an interagency agreement in 1998 with the District Attorney's Public Integrity Division (DA/PID) to provide a unit dedicated to handling employee fraud throughout the Department.

DPSS currently has a workforce of nine investigators for 14,400 employees.

DPSS District Directors and Management
These referrals are normally initiated as a result of some indication or suspicion that an employee is/has engaged in some type of wrongdoing or inappropriate conduct.

Welfare Fraud Prevention & Investigations (WFP&I) Section
These referrals are initiated as a result of informant calls reporting employee wrongdoing on the Central Fraud Reporting Line maintained by the WFP&I Section. Occasionally, during a routine welfare fraud investigation, WFP&I Section will discover evidence implicating a DPSS employee in wrongdoing and refer the case to the IA Unit.

Auditor-Controller (A-C)
These referrals are from anonymous informant calls to the Los Angeles County Employee Fraud Hotline reporting employee fraud or wrongdoing. Referrals from the A-C are of two types, regular Hotline Referrals and Administrative Reviews.

The difference between the regular Hotline Referral and the Administrative Review is the manner in which each referral is investigated.

Regular Hotline Referral - This type of referral is investigated by the IA Unit as a regular investigation. The allegations investigated in this type of investigation include theft, systems abuse, fraud, living with participants, and soliciting or receiving kickbacks.

Administrative Review Referral - This type of referral is forwarded to the appropriate Division Chief with a request for administrative staff to evaluate and investigate the allegations at the district/section where the employee is assigned. The allegations investigated in this type of referral include time abuse, and unauthorized use of County supplies or equipment.

The DPSS IA Unit operates as a centralized reactive unit, receiving and investigating complaints of employee wrongdoing. Investigators work objectively and independently. Activities they perform include the following:

Conduct in-depth interviews of witnesses and employees, using affidavits, to collect relevant information.

Work with other law enforcement agencies in conducting investigations when appropriate.

Testify at various venues, such as the Civil Service Commission or Superior Court.

Upon completion of the investigation, the findings are referred to DPSS Internal Affairs Civil Service Representative for the determination of the appropriate discipline action, and to the Auditor-Controller, Office of County Investigations Unit.

Employees can report suspected employee fraud to their supervisor, or to their district/section management. Employees should not attempt to independently investigate or confirm wrongdoing. Sometimes, valuable evidence can be lost or the suspected employee inadvertently alerted.